Nigeria’s two biggest labour unions have asked their members to go on strike and stay at home from Tuesday as they embark on indefinite nationwide action.
This is despite a court order barring them from doing so.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) are protesting against the rising cost of living and a hike in fuel prices.
They have been pushing President Bola Tinubu to reverse the scrapping of the popular decades-old petrol subsidy that had kept fuel prices low, but which the government said was draining its finances. It said that the money saved would be used for social projects.
The unions want the government to increase the minimum monthly wage to at least $120 (£97) from about $36 some of its “anti-people” economic policies.
The strike would continue until “governments at all levels wake up to their responsibilities”, TUC President Festus Osifo said in a statement.
It comes days after an industrial court in the capital, Abuja, placed a restraining order theoretically preventing the unions from going on strike.
It is unclear how long the strike will last this time, but it is expected to affect major services at hospitals, railway stations and schools in Africa’s biggest economy.
The unions have threatened to go on strike at least three times since President Tinubu came to office in May.
They suspended a strike last month pending discussions with the government – following a meeting with the president on the first day of the strike.
But they say the government failed to meet their demands within a given one-month deadline.